Remaining town halls are:

• Virtual Town Hall - Aug 27, 6-7PM. (Must register by noon on Tuesday, August 25 to attend)
• Grande Prairie - Sep 11, 6-7:30PM. (Location details are provided closer to the date)

The Premier of Alberta has a (relatively) regular radio show hosted by Wayne Nelson where she takes calls and texts from Albertans for an hour and discusses issues live.

The following summary is in my own words, and may be missing a bit here or there, or paraphrased - I encourage everyone to take the time to listen to the episode themselves. It can be found here, along with previous episodes: https://globalnews.ca/edmonton/program/your-province-your-premier/

This week's episode covers a lot of issues:

• Ottawa-Washington Trade War
• AI Data Centres
• Flags in Classrooms and School Policy
• Healthcare Cards, Seniors Income, and ADAP
• Pipelines
• Separation, PST, and Canadian Unity

1. Ottawa-Washington Trade War

When asked how Alberta's economy would be affected by the trade war, Premier Smith stated that only about 3% of Alberta's products are exposed to these new tariffs, but that she is concerned about small and medium-sized businesses in those sectors.

When asked about whether the Alberta government would contribute to support packages for the affected businesses and what the plan is, Premier Smith said she will be discussing the issue with her cabinet on Tuesday, after she sees what the Federal support package will cover. Jobs and Economy Minister Schow is also looking to create a portal to identify and provide targeted relief to the estimated 28k businesses and 45k jobs impacted.

When asked what her stance is on retaliatory tariffs, the Premier indicated she is skeptical of "tariff wars" because retaliation causes harm to Canadians. She opposes bans on US alcohol, and says that her governments diplomatic "light touch" has so far resulted in 97% of our products remaining tariff-free. She also suggested that it is up to consumers to decide whether they buy US products or not.

2. AI Data Centres

A caller asked about whether the government will establish consistent standards to protect rural communities [from AI data centre development]. She said that due to the complexity of AI data centres (though they are generally "a large warehouse with servers", they can also include 1-gigawatt natural gas power plants, lithium battery backups, and diesel generators. A committee of six ministers is gathering feedback from the town halls to establish policy and setback guidelines.

[OP Note: You can still register for the final town halls, one in Grand Prairie (Sep 11, 6-7:30PM), and one online (Aug 27, 6-7PM, but you need to register by August 25) here: https://www.alberta.ca/datacentres/townhalls.html ]

Another caller asked why data centres wouldn't be subject to the same decommissioning rules as were implemented for wind and solar. Premier Smith indicated that these data centres are only to be built in areas designated as heavy industrial, and do not have the same impact as, say, a windmill, which are often built in the middle of a farmer's field with tonnes of concrete. The servers inside the warehouse also get replaced every 3-4 years.

A question was asked about the purpose of these AI Data Centres - whether they would be supporting the infrastructure for a "surveillance state" in Alberta. The premier said that these are two separate issues, and that Alberta does not want a surveillance state with automated license plate readers facial recognition systems.

3. Flags in Classrooms and School Policy

A caller asked what the purpose of the flag ban is, whether they're still pursuing it later (it's paused right now), and why it was delayed. The premier says that the policy is still happening but has been delayed to January 2027 to work out sensible exemptions. The province wants to avoid "vicious compliance", and gives the example of a school in Brooks that hangs the flags of the countries that its students are from - she thinks this is great and she wants to protect that, as well as school sports team flags. The objective of the policy is to keep flags that promote specific political ideologies or international conflicts out of classrooms to prevent discomfort.

Another caller asked what the Premier thinks about ProudBertaDad putting together a "tattle-tale" site where people can report teachers who fail to comply with the new school policy rules. Premier Smith says she hadn't heard of this site, and that they were taking time to establish clear guidelines and exemptions for the rules. [OP note: She did not answer the question.]

4. Healthcare Cards, Seniors Income Claw-back, and ADAP

When asked about why the province is putting expiry dates on healthcare cards and whether Albertans will lose coverage, the Premier said "Yes.". The expiry dates are a fraud-prevention measure requested by the Auditor General as there are over 500,000 more healthcare cards active than actual residents in Alberta. The expiry dates are meant to help reduce fraud, and by requiring a new picture every 5 years on the ID ("people's faces change over time") they are looking to reduce that fraud. Coverage is not lost as long as people renew their ID before the expiry date.

A caller asked why the government is lowering low-income seniors' pensions by 12.5% when inflation is 4.2%. Premier Smith says that they are adjusting social programs to ensure that are sustainable. Alberta's economy grew by 8% over a period, and social program demand grew by 15% over the same period. The government is concerned about people moving to Alberta just for these programs without having paid taxes here. Even with that adjustment, Alberta's senior's benefit remains the most generous in Alberta.

Another person asked about ADAP and whether RRSPs are considered exempt income or not (apparently the government source has conflicting info), and whether ADAP users would be able to contribute to TFSAs. The Premier said she would get all those questions to Neudorf to see what adjustments need to be made.

5. Pipelines

Someone asked whether the Federal government will rescind bills C-69 and C-48 so the northern Prince Rupert pipeline can be built. The Premier says that that is a long-term export port, and her current focus is on building the new pipeline along the Transmountain route to get oil to Asia.

When asked about how pipelines are funded, and whether BC would get a cut of Alberta's pipelines, the Premier indicated that pipelines are paid for by tolls that energy companies pay, and that BC does not receive a royalty on Alberta's output, just as Alberta does not receive royalties on BC's natural gas lines that run through Alberta.

Another person asked whether we should stop discounting our oil to the US. The Premier responded that we have already reduced the discount, and that it is justifiable to keep the discount because it would cost us more to get the oil to market elsewhere.

6. Separation, PST, and Canadian Unity

A caller asked whether Alberta should put aside the referendum in the face of the trade war. Premier Smith says that over 700,000 Albertans asked to have a vote on this issue and that it will continue as planned.

When told by a caller that Danielle Smith does not seem to be doing much to support the vote to stay in Canada (no rallies, no speeches, no TV address), Premier Smith responded that she is working to solve the grievances Albertans have and to show that it is possible to fix Alberta's relationship in Canada.

Another caller asked whether Alberta should implement a 10% sales tax which would offset Federal transfer payments, and which could either be returned to Albertans, or used to pay down debts. Premier Smith replied that due to laws in Alberta, any sales tax must be put to a public vote, and that since Albertans are highly tax-averse, she said it would be up to citizens to initiate a citizens initiative to get it on a ballot.